1979 New York Jets season

1979 New York Jets season
Head coach Walt Michaels
Owner Leon Hess
Home field Shea Stadium
Results
Record 8–8
Division place 3rd AFC East
Playoff finish did not qualify

The 1979 New York Jets season was the 20th season for the team and the 10th in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 8–8 record from 1978 under head coach Walt Michaels. The Jets finished the season with a record of 8–8.

Matt Robinson started the season at quarterback, but got hurt and Richard Todd took the bulk of the duties at Quarterback as the Jets played .500 football posting an 8-8 record for the second straight season, finishing in third place. With the 1979 season, the Jets became one of only three non-expansion teams[1] to not make the playoffs in the 1970s (the others being the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints).

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Game site Attendance
1 1979-09-02 Cleveland Browns L 25–22 (OT) Shea Stadium
48,472
2 1979-09-09 at New England Patriots L 56–3 Schaefer Stadium
53,113
3 1979-09-16 Detroit Lions W 31–10 Shea Stadium
49,612
4 1979-09-23 at Buffalo Bills L 46–31 Rich Stadium
68,731
5 1979-09-30 Miami Dolphins W 33–27 Shea Stadium
51,496
6 1979-10-07 at Baltimore Colts L 10–8 Memorial Stadium
32,142
7 1979-10-15 Minnesota Vikings W 14–7 Shea Stadium
54,479
8 1979-10-21 Oakland Raiders W 28–19 Shea Stadium
55,802
9 1979-10-28 at Houston Oilers L 27–24 (OT) Astrodome
45,825
10 1979-11-04 at Green Bay Packers W 27–22 Lambeau Field
54,201
11 1979-11-11 Buffalo Bills L 14–12 Shea Stadium
50,647
12 1979-11-18 at Chicago Bears L 23–13 Soldier Field
52,635
13 1979-11-26 at Seattle Seahawks L 30–7 Kingdome
59,977
14 1979-12-02 Baltimore Colts W 30–17 Shea Stadium
47,744
15 1979-12-09 New England Patriots W 27–26 Shea Stadium
45,131
16 1979-12-15 at Miami Dolphins W 27–24 Miami Orange Bowl
49,915

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins(3) 10 6 0 .625 5–3 6–6 341 257 L1
New England Patriots 9 7 0 .563 4–4 6–6 411 326 W1
New York Jets 8 8 0 .500 4–4 5–7 337 383 W3
Buffalo Bills 7 9 0 .438 4–4 5–7 268 279 L3
Baltimore Colts 5 11 0 .313 3–5 4–10 271 351 W1

Week 1: vs. Cleveland Browns

Matt Robinson was named starting quarterback for the Jets against the Cleveland Browns but hid a thumb injury on his throwing hand from three days before the game, until swelling forced him to acknowledge the injury to an angered Walt Michaels and team president Jim Kensil. The injury was treated and Robinson had the tape taken off late in the game with the Jets leading, but a Brian Sipe drive aided by a roughing the passer call against Mark Gastineau led to a game-tying Don Cockroft field goal; forced to play in overtime, Robinson's thumb swelled again and the result was a sloppy pass that was intercepted and led to the game-winning Cockroft field goal. Michaels seethed, "You work, you plan all week, and then the kid hides an injury from you." He refused to play Robinson the rest of the season.[2]

Week 2: at New England Patriots

The Jets were crushed 56–3 in a game where Steve Grogan of the Patriots set a club touchdown record that would stand until Tom Brady broke it in 2007.

Week 13: at Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks cornerback Cornell Webster blocked a punt by the Jets' Chuck Ramsey, leading to a Seattle score in a 30–7 Seahawks win. Following the game Michaels called out Ramsey in front of Jets players by snarling, "I can fart farther than you can kick!" [3]

References

  1. The Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers started play in 1976.
  2. Eskenazi, Gerald (1998). GANG GREEN: An Irreverent Look Behind The Scenes At Thirty-Eight (Well, Thirty-Seven) Seasons Of New York Jets Football Futility (New York: Simon & Schuster), pp. 146–50 ISBN 0-684-84115-0
  3. Eskenazi, GANG GREEN, pp. 155–6

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.